Proposal for a Council Decision on the position to be adopted, on behalf of the European Union, in the EEA Joint Committee concerning an amendment to Protocol 31 to the EEA Agreement, on cooperation in specific fields outside the four freedoms (consumer protection)

In order to ensure the requisite legal security and homogeneity of the Internal Market, the EEA Joint Committee is to integrate all the relevant EU legislation into the EEA Agreement as soon as possible after its adoption.

Article 78 of the EEA Agreement provides that the Contracting Parties shall strengthen and broaden cooperation in the framework of the Union’s activities in the fields of, inter alia, consumer protection.

The draft Decision of the EEA Joint Committee (annexed to the proposed Council Decision) aims to amend Protocol 31 to the EEA Agreement on cooperation in specific fields outside the four freedoms in order to extend the cooperation of the Contracting Parties in the area of consumer protection.

In order to extend the cooperation of the Contracting Parties to the EEA Agreement in this area (to take place from 1 January 2014), it is appropriate to incorporate Regulation (EU) No 254/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on a multiannual consumer programme for the years 2014-20 and repealing Decision No 1926/2006/EC in the EEA Agreement.

Liechtenstein shall be exempted from the participation in, and the financial contribution to, this programme.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2014)524: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2014:524:FIN

---